AbdelRahman Al-Bakri

It might be a clich to say that Ive always known what I wanted to do with my life, but in my case, it happens to be true. Having grown up in Amman, the capital city of Jordan, I was surrounded by architectural wonders. Most buildings were aesthetically pleasant and for the most part, bright, yet they instigated within me a passion for drawing from early childhood. I would sketch what I ever I could see and watch from people to animals, and even cartoons. An eclectic mix of what I would later refer to as an abstraction of shapes that I found exciting to look at, rather than rows of uniform and detailed drawings. From then on, I felt capable of escaping reality by simply drafting that of my fantasies. My early appreciation for art and architecture stemmed from my preliminary interest in how architects bring into being what was once a carefully planned conceptual idea. Their building process, combining science and art, fascinated me to no end, and paved the way for understanding of function, form, and the structural qualities of the buildings around me. After choosing architecture as my future profession, I became more aware of its ability to bring out the dichotomy of my personality. My university experience in Arabian world had particularly impacted my approach to architecture as it introduced me to and allowed me to engage with the aesthetic and functional aspects of design, both creatively and scientifically. The historic city of Amman had been inhabited by all different cultures throughout the archeological layers of time, each leaving its lasting mark. From the Roman amphitheater, to Byzantium churches and Islamic Palaces of the Umayyad, Jordan is a historical melting pot of architectural precedents from which I drew on for my inspiration and ambitions as a designer.